The history of the modern Leeds United can be
traced back to 1919, when the team was rapidly formed to replace
Leeds City, who had been ignominiously dumped out of the league,
following illegal payments to their players during the war
years.

The first four decades of our existence saw us
switch from the first to the Second Division with alarming
regularity. Indeed, out of the 33 seasons played up to the 1959-60
season, we had spent 15 of them languishing in Division 2. Of course,
there were memorable moments (three promotion campaigns) and
memorable names: Willis Edwards, the Milburn brothers and Wilf
Copping. However, much of our early history was largely forgettable.
We certainly weren't one of the major players of English
football.

However, things began to change in the late
forties, with the emergence of one of our all time greats, John
Charles. Indeed, such was the talent of the man that many observers
still regard him as the greatest player ever to wear the Leeds shirt.
Not a bad tribute when you think of the Revie team which was to
follow. Charles made his reputation as an outstanding centre-half,
but in the 1952-53 season he was forced to play as centre forward.
Unbelievably, he created even more of an impact here, scoring 26
goals in his first 28 games, then the following season scoring 42
goals in 39 league starts, a record breaking effort which is unlikely
ever to be beaten.Charles eventually left for Juventus in 1957 for a
then massive fee of £65,000, where he went on to become a
legendary figure in Italian football. He would return to Leeds in
1962 but couldn't regain his old form. However, his place amongst
Leeds legends is forever assured.

Of course, an event took place in March 1961 which
was to immeasurably alter the history of our club: the appointment of
Don Revie. Much has been said elsewhere in this website about the
great man. However, unbelievably, his first season in charge of the
club almost ended in the unthinkable: relegation to the old Third
Division. Indeed, so narrow was the scrape that Leeds were still
fighting for their Second Division lives on the last day of the
season, when a 3-0 win against Newcastle United kept them up. Nobody
at the time could have guessed the impact that Revie would have on
the team over the next decade. Unfortunately, though, our honours
list for that period does not tell the full story of what a dominant
force we became in English football:. Two League Championships seems
impressive enough, but we were runners up on another five occasions!
Our single FA Cup final victory, against Arsenal in 1972, could have
been added to on three more occasions, when we were beaten finalists
in 1965 (Liverpool), 1970 (Chelsea) and 1973 (Sunderland). We were a
major force in Europe too - but a series of misfortunes, combined
with dodgy refereeing, sometimes on a criminal scale, left us with
only two trophies to show: the Fairs Cup (now known as the UEFA Cup)
in 1967-68 and 1970-71.

Revie left to take the England manager's job,
following our Championship winning season of 1973-74 and,
unfortunately rather blotted his copy book. However, to Leeds fans he
will always be regarded as a god.

What followed over the next decade and a half has,
once again, been chronicled elsewhere on this website. However,
needless to say, some very bad decisions were made, both at
managerial and boardroom level. Had the Leeds board followed the
Don's advice and appointed his natural successor, Johnny Giles,
things might have been very different. Unfortunately, though, we were
forced to endure the Clough debacle and then, in the eighties, a
series of ex-players - Clarke, Gray and Bremner - who all failed, to
a greater or lesser extent. By this time were languishing in the old
Second Division and going nowhere fast.

The appointment of Howard Wilkinson in 1988 turned
thing round quickly - and, at last, he was able to banish the spectre
of the Revie teams of old, which, at times, hand hung over his
predecessors like a black cloud. By 1989-90, we had won our first
piece of silverware for sixteen years: the old Second Division title.
However, what was even more important was that we were now back
amongst the elite of English football. Wilkinson continued his
revolution when, with fans having to pinch themselves to prove they
weren't dreaming, we pipped Man Utd for the League Championship in
1991-92, its final year before the introduction of the Premiership,
and beat Liverpool 4-3 in that year's thrilling Charity
Shield.

In football, though, nothing lasts forever and
even heroic deeds such as Wilko performed at Elland Road cannot
guarantee your job when things start to go wrong.

Following his sacking in 1996, George Graham was
appointed. Probably the most successful manager working in the
Premiership, after Alex Ferguson., he turned round our ailing
fortunes, albeit playing some desperately dull football.
Unfortunately, though, his reputation amongst Leeds fans was sullied
forever, following what some regarded as his traitorous escape to
Spurs in the autumn of 1998.

When David O'Leary took over the reins at the end
of September 1998, few could have imagined the immediate impact this
would have on the club.

Over the first couple of seasons, it was hard to remember a
time when there was such a positive mood surrounding the club. Of course, much
of this surrounded the fact that the new manager had been willing to throw promising
youngsters directly into the first team. Eddie Gray, who was assigned as O'Leary's
second in command, of course has always believed in the promise of youth. However,
whereas during his time in charge, the youngsters were playing in a struggling
team, trying to escape from the old second division, now the likes of Kewell,
Harte, McPhail, Bowyer, Smith and Woodgate were getting their chance to shine
in the Premiership, playing in a team which, at its best, was brimming with
confidence. Most experts started to believe that O'Leary's youngsters might
be about to challenge Manchester United's dominance.

O'Leary maintained that he was constantly trying
to persuade his former manager to give the youngsters a chance. One
thing is for certain, if Graham had still been in charge, it would
have been unlikely that we would have seen the likes of Smith or
Woodgate getting such a prolonged run in the team, so early in their
careers.

After only eight months at the helm, O'Leary led
us to a hightly respectable fourth in the Premiership and a second
successive season in Europe. What's more, with just a touch more
luck, in his first season in charge, he might have produced some
silverware for us. Had we not lost two last minute goals to
Leicester, in the Worthington Cup fourth round, we would have fancied
our chances of Wembley - and in the FA Cup, our involvement only
ended at the fifth round stage, thanks to two moments of genius by
Ginola and Anderton, as we were beaten 2-0 in a replay by Spurs. Even
in the UEFA Cup, we gave FC Roma, a run for their money, losing out
by a single goal. Had we played them a month later, when O'Leary's
young team were really starting to gel, who knows what might have
happened.

His second season at the helm (and his first full
campaign) was even more memorable: a mixture of the sublime and the
tragic. A magnificent run in the UEFA Cup saw us reach the semi-final
stage, the furthest round we had reached since 1975. In Round 4, we
gained revenge over Roma - with Kewell's well taken winner settling a
pulsating second leg before a packed Elland Road. Unfortunately,
though, the competition will sadly most be remembered for the deaths
of two Leeds supporters - Kevin Speight and Christopher Loftus - in
Istanbul, murdered by Turks prior to the Galatasray
semi-final.

A tragedy of massive proportions, on a human
scale, from a footballing perspective it also marked an
understandable downward turn in form. Never out of the top two places
in the Premiership from September to the start of April, we slumped
out of Champions League contention with only a handful of games
remaining, overtaken by a resurgent Liverpool: a season where we had
played our hearts out looked like it might end in anti-climax.
Deservedly though, following a catastrophic end of season slump by
the Merseysiders, we scraped into third place on the last day of the
season: apoint at Upton Park enough as Liverpool lost to a David
Wetherall header at Valley Parade. We were in the Champions
League!

Unfortunately, though, another event, taking place in the January
of 2000, was to have an even bigger impact on the club's fortunes. When a group
of players set off for a boozy night out in Leeds City Centre few could have
anticipated the heartache that would ensue. Following a night club skirmish,
an Asian student, Sarfraz Najeib was chased by a gang of men and brutally beaten.
Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate were said to be members of the chasing gang
and arrested, leaving a dark cloud hanging over them, as individuals, and the
name of Leeds United - for the next two years. Following an abandonment of the
initial trial at Hull Crown Court, it wasn't until December 2001 that verdicts
were eventually reached: Bowyer was proven not guilty of all charges; Woodgate
not guilty of grievous bodily harm but guilty of affray, leading to a non-custodial
sentence (100 hours of community service) that angered many neutrals. A wreck
during the trial, Woodgate's career seemed on the verge of destruction.

From a footballing point of view, 2000-2001 saw
progress under O'Leary continue. Never given a chance of succeeding
in the Champions League, unseeded in the same group as AC Milan and
Barcelona, we defied the odds to reach the second round stage. Then,
similarly dismissed against Lazio, Anderlecht and Real Madrid, again
we proved our doubters wrong. Only in the semi-finals did we come
unstuck, against an excellent Valencia side. Even then, though, we
had enough chances in the opening leg to build up a strong advantage,
before crashing out 3-0 in Spain.

In the Premiership, we struggled to overcome the worst injury
crisis in living memory, to surge from 13th place at the turn of the year, to
4th by the season's end. Unfortunately, though, we missed out on Champions League
qualification (this time Liverpool had the last laugh, despite us pulling off
the double against them for the first time since the early 70s) - an event that
would later be seen to have dire consequences for our very future, given the
financial gamble that was taking place behind the scenes, reliant on us achieving
top flight European qualification year after year. It had been, for the most
part, a breathtaking roller-coaster ride of a season - but, little did we know
it at the time, it would mark the end of the good times, at least for the foreseeable
future.

Unbelievably, the following 2001-2002 campaign would prove
to be O'Leary's last in charge. The team had made a good start, at least in
terms of results, although there was less attacking flair - and more hesitancy
- in their play than had been seen in the previous two seasons. The turning
point came around the turn of the year. The court case verdicts were always
going to prove distracting and so it proved - as our form became even more indifferently.
Perhaps even more telling though was a book, written by O'Leary, released immediately
after the events in Hull. The title, 'Leeds United on Trial' really said it
all: ill advised and badly timed, it was to prove O'Leary's eventual downfall.
A catastrophic defeat by Cardiff City in the FA Cup and elimination by PSV from
an uncetain UEFA campaign was matched by more patchy Premiership form, which
looked - as late as April - like it might mean us missing out on Europe altogether
the following season. Luckily, a late revival of sorts saw us finish fifth and
qualify yet again for the UEFA Cup.

Sadly, though, for O'Leary, this was deemed not good enough
for the plc. Supporters were growing more restless over the season but most
still felt the manager would be given another six months, to see how his team
might perform without off-field distractions. And so, it came as a huge shock
when, in June 2002, with no prior warning, O'Leary was unceremoniously fired:
a sad end for a manager who had given us so much hope and such great football
during his early days. What's more, if things appeared to be in steady decline
under the Irishman, his departure would mark a collapse of catastrophic proportions,
both on and off the pitch.

Much uncertainty followed his dismissal with Martin O'Neill
yet again mentioned as the plc's top target. It was later reported that, at
the time of O'Leary's sacking, Risdale had allegedly secured the Celtic manager's
services, only for the latter to later back out of the deal, having signed nothing.
If true, it would be seen as the first of many disastrous slips on the Chairman's
part which would eventually lead to him being shown the door too. With Gus Hiddink
and Boro's Steve Mclaren also said to be in the frame for the managerial vacancy,
there was perhaps some surprise at the eventual appointment of Terry Venables.
Said to have 'sweet-talked' Risdale big time, his appointment was announced
on July 8th 2002, with the ex-England boss said to be understandably tempted
at the prospect of working with a squad which reached the Champions League semi-finals
only two seasons earlier.

However, had Venables been given the full story from the very
start of his tenure - namely that six internationals would be sold by the end
of the January transfer window, it is highly unlikely he would have agreed to
take on the job in the first place. If the manager and chairman had been like
an honeymooning couple over their pre-season lunches, it had soon developed
into a marriage from Hell - with divorce imminent.

Following Rio's outstanding World Cup campaign, it was always
likely that he would soon be on his way. However, even though he went to our
bitterest rivals, most supporters were forced to accept that £30million
would have been very difficult for any club to turn down. What became less palatable
was the mass exodus that followed: Robbie Keane (sold to Tottenham), Olivier
Dacourt (on loan to Roma), Lee Bowyer (sold to West Ham) and Robbie Fowler (sold
to Manchester City). Within the space of a season, we had gone from being the
biggest buyers in the land to a club selling off all our prize assets. Not only
that - but we were "giving" these players away. It later transpired
that not only were we selling at a massive loss but that the plc had agreed
to paying a massive portion of Fowler's future salary, even though he was playing
for one of our rivals. Clearly, Risdale and the plc had "pulled the plug"
- and doing so in such a clumsy fashion, that everyone in Football knew we were
there to be shafted.

The final straw came with the sale of Jonathan
Woodgate to Newcastle for £9million. The player, whose misdemeanours off
the pitch had ironically set our decline in motion, had recovered his old form
in admirable fashion and was regarded as one of our true 'crown jewels'. With
the transfer window soon to close, Risdale swore that there would be no way
Woodgate would be allowed to leave - yet days later, he was on his way to Geordie-land.
It was to prove almost the final straw for Venables, who thought about quitting,
but decided to battle on against the odds.

Supporters, who had been calling for Venables' head before
a good run around Christmas, now turned their anger away from the manager and
onto Ridsdale for overseeing the exodus of players. Both were living on borrowed
time.

An FA cup run was soon our only hope of silverware or - even
more significantly - qualification for Europe. Paired against Sheffield United,
who had already knocked us out of the League Cup, in the quarter-final, it seemed
we had a God given opportunity of reaching the semis and rescuing our season.
However, following another inept and soulless defeat and subsequent reversals
in the Premiership ( a run of six defeats from the last eight league matches),
we were in relegation freefall, putting the heat firmly on Venables again. On
March 20th 2003, in a statement to the Stock Exchange, Leeds plc confirmed the
former England manager's departure.

Although many of us might have questioned his appointment in
the first place, few could failed to feel some sympathy for him at the end of
his time in charge. He had clearly been kept in the dark by Risdale from his
first day in charge onwards and had to watch on helplessly as the guts were
ripped out of his beleagured side.Still, being only
ten months into a two-year contract worth around 2 million a year, the subsequent
compensation payout would no doubt ease his 'pain': sadly, we - as supporters
- wouldn't be so lucky. The Leeds players were very set in their ways.

Worryingly, El Tel would later question the attitude of the
playing staff at Elland Road: "There were a lot of experienced players
there but I couldn't understand the younger ones not wanting to learn".
He added,"I've never come across a situation like I did at Leeds. I'd imagined
the players there would have been up for learning new things. It's the only
place it's ever happened to me". Contrasting United's stars with the Australian
national team, he stated that "those boys were so keen. They were a joy
to work with, great competitors. So different to the players at Leeds".
Clearly, it wasn't just Risdale who made things difficult for him at Leeds.

With only eight matches remaining, we found ourselves only
seven points above the drop zone with a daunting trip to Liverpool facing whoever
would step into the managerial hotseat. Most supporters felt the job would be
given to Eddie Gray, at least on a temporary basis. We were hardly an attractive
option any more and any manager worth his salt would be unwilling to drop sticks
to face a relegation battle which might result in us going out of business:
that's how dire the situation had now become.

And so...step forward Peter Reid! After a collective sigh of
disbelief from all concerned (How could a manager whose spectacular recent failure
at already doomed Sunderland be entrusted with our own survival?), the scouser
set about trying to keep us up. Reportedly, he was being paid on a match by
match basis but with a massive cash incentive (£500k?) should we stay
up. More financial wizadry, given the fact that we were, at the time, only on
the fringes of the relegation zone. Anyway, Reid's first full game in charge,
away to Charlton, certainly offered hope - and how! A 6-1 win saw Viduka hit
a hat-trick and Kewell score twice. Yet we were even closer to the drop zone
at the start of May and were we to have lost at Arsenal, our Premiership survival
would rest on the very last day of the season. Of course, never doing anything
by the script, we won 3-2: Kewell, Harte and Viduka keeping us up and, not for
the first time in recent seasons, screwing the Gooners' championship hopes.
Reid was given the manager's job on a long-term basis.

Could he unexpectedly turn things round over the close season?
Most pundits seemed to think otherwise. In fact, not only did most have us down
as strugglers for the new campaign but many had us amongst their predictions
for the drop. Pre-season hardly offered much hope. With the financial crisis
showing no sign of improving, despite Risdale having been unceremoniously replaced
at the helm by Professor John McKenzie, Kewell's long anticipated move to Liverpool
eventually went through. Typically, though, the plc made an almighty botch of
the whole thing. £5m was always going to represent an insultingly small
sum but news that the player's agent Bernie Mandicwould bag £2m of this
really rubbed salt into already sore wounds.With Dacourt leaving for Roma in
a £3.5m deal ("I don't want anyone here who doesn't want to play
for the club," said Reid), things couldn't get much worse, could they?
Add our worst ever pre-season form - we managed just one win, at Chesterfield,
in eight pre-season matches - and murmurings of a major bust up between Reid
and Danny Mills (He would soon be on his way, on loan, to Boro, for the rest
of the season) and it was looking grimmer than grim.

The opener, at home to Newcastle, looked a potential nightmare,
but offered unexpected hope. With Reid's Summer 'loanees' - especially Camara
and Sakho - making an immediate impact, we found ourselves 2-1 up, only for
that man Shearer to grab an equaliser late on. As August drew to a close, a
2-1 win against Boro (albeit against the run of play) gave us our first away
victory and things weren't looking too bad.

However, from these early seeds of hope, nothing flourished.
In fact, it was a slippery slope for the remainder of Reid's short tenure. Understandably,
receiving four goal thumpings by the likes of Arsenal wasn't what United supporters
wanted to see - but at least we could offer the excuse that we were getting
thumped by a class outfit. But Leicester 4 Leeds 0, Everton 4 Leeds 0...

By October, less than four months since being given the job
on a permanent basis, the vultures were already circling over Riedy's head.
Ironically, we supporters were so shell-shocked by everything that the previous
twelve months had thrown at us, that we gave the manager a surprising amount
of positive backing - despite the inept performances his teams continued to
produce on the pitch. Sympathy unexpectedly further grew for the scouser when,
following weeks of internal talks (conducted in an embarrassingly public forum)
which almost led to him being sacked in October, he was given a second chance
- on Allan Leighton's wishes and against McKenzie's recommendation. This was
no way to conduct business.

Sadly (or perhaps thankfully?) for Reid, he didn't have to
wait long to be put out of his misery. A 6-1 mauling by Portsmouth in November,
our heaviest top-flight defeat since 1959, saw Reid given the axe and Eddie
Gray put in temporary charge. Few, other than United's plc, had greeted Reid's
arrival with much enthusiasm - and our pessimism had, sadly, proven to be justified.
The ex-Sunderland boss almost managed the rare accolade of relegating two teams
in a single season. If he had been allowed to remain in charge, there's little
doubt he would have managed the unenviable feat at the second time of asking.
Tactically he offered little but his biggest weakness, perhaps surprisingly,
was his poor man-management skills. Despite his public persona, as genial scouser,
he seemed to rub up several of our star names the wrong way. Whether right or
wrong, the fact remained - and remains - that without the likes of Viduka fighting
for the cause, relegation seems an ever more likely prospect.

Eddie Gray's 'caretaker' tenure extended beyond the turn of
the year, despite FA reservations that he didn't have the necessary coaching
qualifications to manage a top flight team. The blunt truth to be faced was
that not only were there no half decent managers willing to join us - not only
inheriting a poor team but a club that had debts of over £80m - but we
couldn't afford the compensation to release them from their present contract.
Whereas relegation once appeared as a distant bad dream, it now started to look
increasingly likely. Despite a promising run during Eddie's opening games -
with an away win against high flying Charlton, home win against much improved
Fulham and a creditable 1-1 draw against Chelsea - a 3-1 defeat by bottom of
the table Wolves in the final game of 2003, signalled another slump in form.
Hammered in the FA Cup by Arsenal and losing six consecutive games in the league
saw us hit rock bottom and stare relegation right between the eyes. A much needed
4-1 win agianst Wolves offered some hope - but there is much still to do.

Of course, the whole of the 2003-4 campaign so far has been
played out against the backdrop of financial armageddon. Deadlines for administration
have come and gone with numerous extensions being granted. There have been talks
of a Sheikh saviour, a Yorkshire consortium but as yet no firm offers. Administration
has, at times, looked like the best option of a bad bunch, but the fact that
it might well result in not only losing our few remaining stars but perhaps
even Elland Road means it is a route the plc will be unlikely to risk.

The sad fact remains that just a few short seasons ago, we
had the world - or at least Europe - at our feet. We came within a whisker of
winning the two top European competitions and could boast some of the best players
in the land. Now all that seems a distant memory. Peter Risdale has one hell
of a lot to answer to. He still seems unrepentant that his gamble to 'Live the
Dream' wasn't sustained. Yet the nightmare that has followed - where the very
survival of our club is in danger - surely wasn't worth the risk. Even without
Risdale's 'monopoly money' O'Leary inherited enough good young players to have
made us a top six team for years to come. Sadly, gross financial incompetency
of the highest order means we might be swapping Barcelona for Barnsley next
season: an interesting return for Mr Risdale, perhaps?